Security protected credit cards container and billfold

ABSTRACT

A container and billfold for carrying credit cards and the like is provided with security protection for shielding surreptitious remote retrieval of the information stored in magnetic means on the cards. The upper edge portions of the cards are exposed in a staggered manner in the container for ready identification, selection and removal of a particular card during use. A paper currency clip is also provided in the container.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a security protected billfold container for credit cards, debit cards, identity cards and the like and paper currency. More particularly, it relates to a wallet size billfold having protection against surreptitious remote retrieval of the information stored on the cards with electromagnetic scanning device such as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) and similar electronic means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Credit cards, smart cards, and debit cards which are commonly referred to as charge cards for payment of commercial transactions, and personal identity cards, are provided with magnetic means such as a magnet strip or a magnetic chip for storing on the cards the details of account and/or personal information of the card owner. The information is retrieved during use by scanning or inserting the card into a card reader for payment of a variety of services or for identification purposes. The information recorded on the card may however also be accessed remotely with an RFID or similar electronic means located in the close vicinity or proximity of the card. Since the cards are always carried by the owner in the owner's wallet or purse, it is invariably freely exposed to illegal or surreptitious access of the information by some one carrying a portable RFID or similar electronic scanning device by positioning the scanning device near or in close proximity of the card owner to retrieve the information from the cards for illegal purposes such as recreating duplicate cards for illegal uses or payments. Many methods have been employed to prevent such illegal remote surreptitious retrieval of the card information. Since RFID signals can not penetrate through a shielding plate such as a metal plate or alloy plate, one method is to locate one or two shielding plates on the outer or both sides of the outermost part of the container of the cards in a wallet or purse. The shielding plate or plates would block the RFID signal from reaching the cards to access the information. However, the inclusion of shielding plates invariably renders the card container rather bulky or the physical access of the cards during use by the owner difficult.

Moreover, charge cards and identity cards are commonly contained in pockets or plastic sleeve envelopes provided in a wallet. In the case of plastic sleeve envelopes, they are clear plastic sleeve envelopes bound in a bundle or a stack manner in the wallet. One or more cards may be inserted into each sleeve envelope. In use, a required card can be removed from the particular sleeve envelope containing it. As the sleeve envelope are of the same size of the card, it is awkward and frustrating to remove the card out of the sleeve envelope or to insert it into the sleeve envelope, particularly when two or more cards are necessarily contained in each single sleeve envelope for accommodating a plurality of cards. Same problems exist when the cards are stored in pockets provided on the side panels in the wallet or inside the wallet.

Furthermore, due to the stacking or bundling of the sleeve envelopes, particularly when two or more cards are contained in each sleeve envelope or pocket, some of the cards in the stack are not readily visible since they would be sandwiched or covered completely by other cards positioned in front, behind, or on top so that often it is difficult to locate a particular card from the stack or bundle.

Hard plastic cases have also been employed for carrying the cards in a stacked manner. The cards must all be removed simultaneously from such a hard case for selecting a particular card required during use and that the simultaneous removal of all the cards are susceptible to accidental misplacement and loss of the removed cards. Moreover, most such plastic cases are provided with a cover which is held in the closed position with a latch, or the case consists of two half cases held together with a latch. Such cases are difficult or unwieldy to operate requiring the . user to operate it with both hands.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a billfold container for carrying and protecting the charge and identity cards contained therein from surreptitious access of the card information with a remote RFID or similar device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a billfold container in which the cards can be easily placed therein or removed therefrom.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a billfold container in which all the cards stored therein are readily identifiable for selection of any card during use.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a billfold container for carrying charge and identity cards which is convenience to operate and can be operated with one hand.

It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a billfold container including means for carrying paper currency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a front top and side perspective elevation view of the billfold container of the present invention in the closed condition.

FIG. 2 is a back bottom and side perspective elevation view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a side perspective elevation view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a side perspective elevation view of the billfold container in an opened condition.

FIG. 5 is a top and side perspective elevation view of the billfold container in the opened condition showing its interior construction.

FIG. 6 is an upside down top and side perspective elevation view thereof showing the interior construction.

FIG. 7 is an exploded top and side perspective elevation view thereof showing the various components of the top halve of the billfold container.

FIG. 8 is an exploded bottom and side perspective elevation view of thereof showing the various components of the lower panel frame of the bifold container.

FIG. 9 is a perspective rear end elevation view of the hinge side of the billfold container according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a partial cross sectional rear end elevation view along cross sectional line X-X of FIG. 1 showing the construction of the hinge construction of the billfold container according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to the drawings, the billfold container 10 of the present invention consists of a top housing 11 and a lower housing 12 mounted together with a hinge 13 so that the container can be opened and closed easily during use. The billfold container 10 may be made of a plastic material, metal or similar material, and may have convenient overall dimensions of 7.5 cm by 11 cm by 1 cm similar to a common small wallet.

As best shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the top housing 11 has a rectangular main frame 14 with an inner rectangular surrounding rim 15 formed on the outer side of the top housing 11. The inner edges of the inner rectangular surrounding rim 15 defines a rectangular outer frame opening 16 of the top housing 11. A top enclosure panel 17 is located in the rectangular frame 14 with its edge portions abutting the rectangular shoulder 15 and enclosing the rectangular outer frame opening 16 to form the enclosure top panel of the top housing 11. A shielding plate 18 made of a material such as metal, metal alloy, or plastic impregnated with metal, having the property of shielding RFID or similar electronic transmission signals, is located on the top enclosure panel 17. A top mounting frame 19 having outer dimensions equal to the inner dimensions of the inner dimensions of the top housing 11, is located and secured to the inside of the top housing 11 for mounting the top enclosure panel 17 and the top shielding plate 18 securely in the top housing 11 such as by screws 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 to the inner side wall of the top housing 14. The top mounting frame 19 preferably has an inner width of 5.3 cm which is equal to the width of a conventional charge card, a height of about 8.5cm, and a depth of about 0.3 cm such that a stack of a plurality of charge cards may be placed inside the top mounting frame 19 as best shown in FIG. 6..

The lower inner side wall 26 of the top mounting frame 19 slopes downwardly and outwardly from the shielding plate 18 towards the inner rim surface of the top mounting frame 19 as best shown in FIG. 7. Also, the upper inner side wall 27 of the top mounting frame 19 preferably slopes upwardly and outwardly from the shielding plate 18 towards the inner rim surface of the top mounting frame 19. A plurality of transverse steps 28 are formed on the sloping lower inner side wall 26.

Two retaining arms 29 and 30 having a transverse L shape are provided on opposite sides and are located about the middle portion of the inner rim of the top mounting frame 19. The retaining arms 29 and 30 have an inner free edge extending in an overhanging manner towards one another so that charge cards may be inserted into the top mounting frame 19 under the retaining arms 29 and 30 in a stack manner. When the lower edges of the charge cards inserted into the top mounting frame 19 would invariably abut separate transverse steps 28 in the downwardly sloping inner side wall 26 so that the top edge portions of the charge cards in the stack would also invariably be exposed in a staggered manner to provide ready identification of the cards in the stack to facilitate easy selection of a particular charge card in the stack. The sloping upper inner side wall 27 of the top mounting frame 19 also facilitates the card stack in the top mounting frame 19 to be pushed forward in order that a selected charge card may be removed easily from the stack.

Two torsion springs 31 and 32, which may have a generally C shape, are mounted on the opposite inner side walls of the top mounting frame 19 and preferably located beneath the two retaining arms 29 and 30 respectively. The springs 31 and 32 press against the opposite sides of the stack of charge cards in the top mounting frame 19 to maintain the stack securely and neatly in place.

The lower housing 12 has similar construction as the top housing 11. As best shown in FIG. 8, it consists of a rectangular main frame 33 having a surrounding inner rim 34 formed on the outer side of the lower housing 12. The inner edges of the inner rectangular surrounding rim 34 defines a rectangular bottom frame opening 35 of the lower housing 12. A lower enclosure panel 36 is located in the rectangular frame 33 with its outer edge portions abutting the rectangular rim 34 and enclosing the rectangular bottom frame opening 35 to form the enclosure bottom panel of the lower housing 12. A shielding plate 37 having the property of shielding electronic scanning waves such as RFID is located on top of the lower enclosure panel 36. A lower mounting frame 38 having outer dimensions equal to the inner dimensions of the lower housing 12, is located and secured to the lower housing 12 for mounting the lower enclosure panel 36 and the shielding plate 37 in the lower housing 12. Screws 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 may be employed for securing the lower mounting frame 38 to the rectangular frame 33 of the lower housing 12. The opening of the lower mounting frame 38 also preferably has an inner width of 5.3 cm which is equal to the width of the conventional charge card, a height of about 8.5 cm, and a depth of about 0.3 cm such that a stack of a plurality of charge cards may be placed inside the opening of the lower mounting frame 33 as best shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The lower inner side wall 45 of the lower mounting frame 33 slopes outwards and upwards from the shielding plate 37 and the inner upper inner side wall 46 also slopes outwards and upwards from the shielding plate 37, and a plurality of transverse steps 47 are formed on the inner lower side wall. Therefore the lower edges of cards placed in the lower mounting frame 38 will abut separate transverse steps 47 in the lower inner side wall 45 such that an upper edge portion of the cards will be exposed to facilitate identification, selection and removal of a particular card during use. The sloping upper inner wall 46 also facilitates the easy removal of the card.

Two retaining arms 48 and 49, preferably having a cross sectional L-shaped, are provided on the inner surface of the opposite sides of the lower mounting frame 38 and are located preferably just below the middle portion of the sides of the lower mounting frame 38. The retaining arms 48 and 49 have an inner free edge located in an overhanging manner over the opening of the lower mounting frame 38 for retaining the stack of charge cards located within the lower mounting frame 38.

Two torsion springs 50 and 51, which may have a C shape as shown, are mounted on the opposite side walls of the lower mounting frame 38 and preferably located beneath the retaining arms 48 and 49. The torsion springs 50 and 51 press against the opposite sides of the stack of charge cards in the lower mounting frame 33 to maintain the stack in a secure and neat manner within the lower mounting frame 33.

As best shown in FIG. 10, the hinge construction of the billfold container 10 consists of two upstanding extension base portions 52 and 53 formed at the two end portions of the lower housing 12. The extension base portions 52 and 53 are spaced from one another by a space 54. A through opening 55 is formed in the extension base portion 52 and a through opening 56 is formed in the extension base portion 53. A rear extension end portion 57 is formed at the lower middle portion of the top housing 11. A through opening 58 is formed in the rear extension end portion 54 of the top housing 11. A spring-loaded shaft 59 is located in the through opening 58 of the top housing 11. The shaft 59 has one enlarged end portion 60 at one end and another enlarged end portion 61 at the opposite end. The enlarged end portion 60 has a rectangular end portion 62 and the enlarged end portion 61 has a similar rectangular end portion 63. An adjusting pin 64 is located in the through opening 55 of the extension base portion 52, and a similar adjusting pin 65 is located in the through opening 58 of the extension base portion 53. The adjusting pins 64 and 65 have a slot formed on their outer end surface and a bifurcated inner end having two arms spaced from one another in a distance equal to the width of the rectangular end portions at the ends of the shaft 59. The top housing 11 and the lower housing 12 are mounted together with the rear extension end portion 57 engaged with the middle portion of the space 54 of the lower housing 12. The adjusting pins 64 and 65 are then inserted into the through openings 55 and 56 respectively with their bifurcated inner ends engaged with the rectangular end portions 62 and 63 respectively. Thus, the top housing 10 and the lower housing 12 may be pivotable with respect to one another relative to the shaft 59 to an opened condition with the top housing 10 located at an obtuse angle position slightly larger than 90 degrees relative to the lower housing 12. The spring tension in the shaft 59 enables the top housing 10 and the lower housing 12 to be pivoted with a snap action to such opened condition with ease with a single hand operation. The spring tension also facilitates the top housing 10 and the lower housing 12 to be pivoted to the close condition juxtaposed to one another with a snap action. The angle of the opened condition of the billfold container 10 may be varied selectively by turning the adjusting pins 64 and 65 with a slot screw driver engaging with the slots formed on their end surface portion. Once the desired opening position of the billfold container 10 has been adjusted, the opening position may be fixed by securing the adjusting pins 64 and 65 in place with set screws 66 and 67 provided at the extension base portions 52 and 53 respectively of the lower housing 12.

A currency clip 68 may be mounted to the adjusting pins 64 and 65 exposed through the two spaces located between the end extension portion 57 of the top housing 11 and the extension base portions 52 and 53 of the lower housing 12 such that the currency clip 68 will be positioned in a raised angle position as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The currency clip 68 may be generally triangular in shape as shown and has a center pivotable spring arm 69 such that a small amount of paper currency in the folded condition may be held in the spring arm 69. The raised angle position of the currency clip 68 when the billfold is in the opened condition, facilitates the easy removal of the paper currency therefrom or placement of the paper currency thereto.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above. It will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made therein and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications which may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A security protected container and billfold for carrying credit cards and the like comprising: a top housing and a lower housing hingedly mounted together to one another at a rear end; each of said top housing and said lower housing having an outer enclosure panel; a rectangular main frame surrounding an outer rectangular frame opening; a shielding plate located within each of said top housing and said lower housing and being in abutment with and covering over entirely inner surface of said outer enclosure panel, a mounting frame located inside said main frame to retain said shielding plate securely in place within said rectangular main frame; said mounting frame and said shielding plate forming a compartment for receiving said cards contained therein in a stacked manner; two L-shaped retainers formed on an inner surface on two opposite sides of said mounting frame, said retainers having a free edge portion extending in an overhang manner and extending inwardly of said mounting frame for retaining said cards securely located within said compartment; said mounting frame having a lower side wall sloping downwardly and outwardly from said shielding plate, and an upper side wall sloping upwardly and outwardly from said shielding plate, a plurality of transverse steps formed on said lower side wall whereby lower edges of said cards placed and stacked in said mounting frame abut said steps on said sloping lower side wall of said mounting frame to render upper edge portions of said cards to expose in a staggered manner to facilitate ready identification, selection and removal of a selected card from the stack.
 2. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 1 wherein said rectangular main frame has a center opening surrounded by said rectangular main frame, an inwardly extending surrounding inner rim located at an inner surface of said rectangular main frame; a rectangular cover plate abutting said inner rim and enclosing said rectangular frame opening to form said enclosure panel of said rectangular main frame; and said mounting frame being secured to said rectangular main frame for retaining said shielding plate and said rectangular cover plate securely mounted in place within said compartment.
 3. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 2 including two torsion springs mounted on two opposite side walls of said mounting frame of each of said top housing and said lower housing; said torsion springs abutting said cards to maintain said cards in a stack securely and safely in place in said compartment.
 4. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 3 wherein said top housing and said lower housing are mounted together with a spring-loaded hinge operative to maintain said top housing and said lower housing to positioned juxtaposed to one another in a closed condition and to positioned in an obtuse angle relative to one another in an opened condition.
 5. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 4 including a currency clip mounted to said hinge and operative for carrying a selected amount of paper currency in said container and billfold.
 6. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 5 wherein said shielding plate is made of an electromagnet waves blocking material selected from the group consisting of metal, and metal alloy.
 7. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 4 including an extension end portion formed at a rear end of said top housing and having a through opening formed therein; two upstanding extension base portions formed at two end portions of a rear end of said lower housing; said extension base portions being spaced from one another by a mounting space, and both of said extension base portions also having a through opening formed therein; and said top housing and said lower housing being mounted together with said extension end portion of said top housing engaged with said extension base portions of said lower housing; and said spring-loaded hinge extending through said through opening of said extension end portion of said top housing and said through opening in said base extension portions of said lower housing.
 8. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 7 wherein said spring-loaded hinge includes a spring-loaded shaft located with said extension end portion of said top housing, said shaft having two rectangular ends adjacent to two ends of said through opening of said extension end portion of said top housing; a first adjustable pin located in one of said extension base portion and a second adjustable pin located in the other one of said extension base portion; said first adjustable pin having a bifurcated inner end engageable with said rectangular end at one end of said shaft and said second adjustable pin also having a bifurcated inner end engageable with said rectangular end at the second end of said shaft, said first adjustable pin and said second adjustable pfin being adjustable for varying said obtuse angle between said top housing and said lower housing in said opened condition.
 9. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 8 wherein said money clip being mounted to a body portion of each of said first adjustable pin and said second adjustable pin whereby said money clip is located at a selected tilted position spaced from said top mounting frame and said lower mounting frame when said top housing and said lower housing are located in said opened condition.
 10. A security protected container and billfold according to claim 9 including a slot formed on an end surface of both said first adjustable pin and said second adjustable pin to facilitate adjustment of both said first adjustable pin and said second adjustable pin. 